1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic components, and particularly to connectors for electronic components.
2. Description of Background
Increasing needs for power for electronic components, for example, system processing units has led to increased volt-ampere requirements and an increase in the number of required power domains (or voltages) provided by power supplies (or Direct Current Adaptors) to the system processing units. Resulting connectors between the power supply and the system processing unit have high current ratings sometimes in the range of 1000 to 1400 amps and increasingly greater lengths to supply all of the required voltage domains while staying under the maximum allowed current per inch of card edge. These requirements all directly influence the force required to achieve connection between the power supply and the system processing unit. For example, a power supply configured to supply approximately 20 power domains with contact ratings ranging from 40 to 150 amps results in a connection force of approximately 110 lbs.
Further, as connector length has increased, difficulty in successfully engaging the connector has also increased. The increased length increases the potential for angular deflection between the two connector halves, and also potentially increases deformation of each connector half. These factors, among others require employment of an accurate mechanism for engaging the connector halves to one another.